News Detail

Senate could vote on budget framework

2/3/2017

The Illinois Senate could vote next week on a bipartisan budget framework that would produce a balanced state budget, move Illinois forward economically and in job creation, and turn Illinois around fiscally.

The proposal includes budget cuts and critical structural reforms that will bring stability to Illinois, efforts that have been insisted upon by Senate Republicans. These include a property tax freeze, procurement reform, mandate relief, making it easier for local governments to consolidate, and workers’ compensation reform.

“We have to get the state on a path with a sustainable, balanced budget, and the reforms that will keep us there,” Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno (R-Lemont) said Jan. 26 to the full Senate. “We need to do this for the good of the state.”

The budget framework also includes legislation that would fund public universities, mental health providers, addiction treatment centers, senior programs, breast and cervical cancer screening programs, youth services and programs for victims of sexual assault for the rest of the fiscal year (through June). These areas have not been receiving funding since the emergency stopgap budget expired Jan. 1.